


Satellites

by strangestorys



Series: Spacedogs Ficlets [2]
Category: Adam (2009), Charlie Countryman (2013), Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Couch Cuddles, Established Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Hannibal AU, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Spacedogs, Spacedogs Appreciation Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 16:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6017125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangestorys/pseuds/strangestorys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam helps Nigel grieve a friend. Sad, but fluffy at the end.</p><p> </p><p>  <i>“No. I don’t want to hear it. You’re sad, and you’re allowed to be sad, but we’re going to have our normal evening, and I’m going to be with you. You can still cry if you want, I won’t stop you. Crying feels good. But you’re going to cry with me there. And I can give you a hug if you want.”</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>“And if I want to stay in this dark room and drink whiskey until I pass the fuck out?”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Satellites

**Author's Note:**

> For Anon, who prompted "things you said when you were crying."

Adam walked into their shared apartment and put his bag down, toeing off his shoes in the entryway.

“Nigel?”

No answer. Usually at this time of day, Adam came home to hear Nigel either having a heated phone conversation with his business associates or watching some kind of awful trash TV. The noise was something Adam had had to get used to in the early stages of their relationship, but once they worked out a comfortable routine, he was happy to let Nigel have his “loud” time – after dinner was Adam’s “quiet” time (until Nigel decided it was time for more _interesting_ activities), and then bed (which frequently resulted in even _more_ interesting activities). They were both quite satisfied with the arrangement.

All of which made this silence odd.

“Nigel? I know you’re here, I saw your keys on the table.”

Still nothing. He walked through the house to the bedroom, and found Nigel lying on his back on the bed, arm over his eyes.

“I know I’m late for dinner, but there was a very interesting lecture on redshift at the planetarium. It’s ok if you ate without me.”

At this, Nigel moved his arm and lifted his head, looking blearily at Adam.

“Little bird, go on, eat your dinner.”

“Nigel? You look sick, like the time you had the flu. Do you have the flu again? We still have some medicine left over. I’ll go get it.”

Nigel snorted at that. “No, babe, I don’t have the flu. I just need a little while alone. You got a package from Amazon today, I bet it’s that book you wanted. Go on and read it for a while.”

“Oh! It came?”

“Yeah, I left it on the coffee table for you. I want to hear all about it. All about the asteroids and shit. Later.”

“It’s actually about new advances in communicating over long distances, which could have massive implications for… Nigel, what’s wrong? You really look like you don’t feel good. Your eyes are all red.”

“Babe, I’m fine. I just need some time to deal with something on my own. I’ll be back to normal tomorrow, I promise.”

“I want you to be normal now. I want to eat dinner with you. I’m sorry I was late, is that why you’re mad?”

“Oh, bird, I’m not mad. Not at you, never. I’m fucking sad, but I’m not mad at you, don’t worry your head about that.”

“Why are you sad? I don’t want you to be sad. Have you been crying? I’ve never seen you cry, Nigel. What’s going on? You can talk to me about it if you want. I’m here now.”

Adam moved to sit next to Nigel on the bed. He tentatively reached his hand out to hold onto Nigel’s bigger one, and Nigel took it with a strong squeeze.

“It’s nothing you can fix, sweetheart. I don’t want to be sad either. I got a phone call from a friend back in Romania. One of my best mates was involved in a bad accident. He died instantly.”

“Oh. Oh no.”

“We had grown up together. I didn’t have that many close connections back home, but this mate was like family. Even though I thought I’d never see him again, it fucking hurts.”

“Nigel I’m so sorry.”

He sat and held onto Nigel’s hand for a few minutes, letting Nigel grip it as hard as he wanted. It was a little painful, but it seemed to make Nigel feel better.

“I know I can’t take this away from you and make it better, but I’m going to be right here whether you want me to or not. I’m not going to let you sit here and be sad by yourself. I hate being sad by myself. You’re not going to have to do that.”

“Baby, you don’t have to wallow with me in this. You can bring me a bottle of whiskey if you want, but I’m not going to bring you down with me. This is my fucking problem. I’ll be over it soon, don’t worry.”

Adam gave Nigel’s hand a final squeeze before standing from the bed.

“Get up. I’m making dinner.”

“Adam – “

“No. I don’t want to hear it. You’re sad, and you’re allowed to be sad, but we’re going to have our normal evening, and I’m going to be with you. You can still cry if you want, I won’t stop you. Crying feels good. But you’re going to cry with me there. And I can give you a hug if you want.”

“And if I want to stay in this dark room and drink whiskey until I pass the fuck out?”

“That’s your choice, but if you do that, I’m going to sit right next to you and read to you about satellite communication systems all night.”

That finally got a small laugh from Nigel. “You drive a hard bargain, sparrow.”

“And I mean it, too. I’ll go start dinner.”

Adam left Nigel to get up in his own time and put some pasta on to boil. He was just getting the garlic bread in the oven when Nigel came up behind him and wrapped his big arms around him from behind. He held onto Adam for a long minute, breathing deeply. Adam finally turned around in his arms and began rubbing his back soothingly. “There you are.”

Nigel sobbed quietly for a little bit in Adam’s arms before pulling back and wiping his nose on the kitchen towel.

“How on earth did I come to deserve you, little bird?”

“We didn’t do anything to deserve each other Nigel, we just found each other.”

“Thank whoever the fuck is up there, then.”

After they ate, they went to sit on the sofa, Nigel’s head in Adam’s lap while he read quietly, one hand in Nigel’s hair.

“Tell me about the satellites, babe. They still full of bloody Russians?”

“Actually, the International Space Station is currently manned by a team of three Americans and three Russians, but run by a team of scientists from many nations, most notably the EU, Canada, and Japan.”

“…so you’re telling me they’re still full of bloody Russians, then.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’d say full of Russians, but yes. They’re up there.”

“Do you think I could be the first Romanian astronaut, babe?”

“You missed the boat on that one, Nigel. Dumitru Prunariu went into orbit in 1981, making him the first and only man from Romania to go to space.”

“I can settle for second then. As long as you’re my copilot.”

“Nigel, that was pretty cheesy. Even for you.”

“You love it.”

“Hmm. Be quiet, I want to finish this chapter.”

“Adam?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

Adam just stroked his hair softly and kept reading.

**Author's Note:**

> One of the things I've been really interested in exploring is that Adam really is quite emotionally competent. He doesn't always know what to say, but he does understand when people are having a hard time, and he wants to help with it. Plus, he knows what grief looks like. He's been there. I didn't think characters in the movie 'Adam' always treated this fairly, and I wanted to give him a shot at it here. 
> 
> Also, Nigel is a big baby who needs cuddles all the time.


End file.
